Jota the slotter gains a point as Robertson sees red
49:15 Share

The Athletic FC Podcast Network.

All right, Reds, Tony Evans here with Walk On, your Liverpool podcast from The Athletic. I'm here with James Pearce and Andy Jones. That slacker use hasn't turned up again. Another week without a win? Are we heading for a crisis? Oh, hang on, I'm talking about Manchester City there, aren't I? Coming up, we'll look back on going down to 10 men against Fulham and look forward to the January transfer window. And, of course, previewing the games that are coming up

Southampton in the League Cup and Tottenham at White Hart Lane. But we'll start with those three words. Andy. Well, based on the last three games, because I'm not on as much anymore, so I feel like I'm going to overview a little bit more, making things trickier. Yeah, fair point, fair point. And you've clearly thought about this. I mean, not like yous. James, your three words. Jotter the Slaughter. I'll tell you what, what a goal that was. It was excellent, wasn't it? Well, let's see.

What you're saying. Jay Sheehy. Every point counts. He's right. Kenny Skinner. By Anthony Robinson. Hmm. That's an interesting idea. I've seen a lot of that around. Travis Owsley. City of shambles. Travis. We shouldn't be taking pleasure in other people's pain. Well, not much. Melvin Thomas. Spends in January. Hmm.

to join our community of listeners on Facebook. Just search WalkOn Podcast and join the group. Two points dropped. Andy, you were there, weren't you? We did say Fulham are tricky. I mean, I see quite a bit of Fulham down in London and they are...

They are awkward. I mean, they nearly took points at Anfield last year, but for a late surge. And in the League Cup, they were quite good as well. But yeah, it was quite a dramatic game, wasn't it? Yeah, it was one of them weird, enjoyable games that you're probably not supposed to enjoy. Yeah.

And yeah, it was just packed full of madness and you didn't quite know how it was going to turn next, really. Yeah, as you say, Fulham were always going to be a difficult side. You look at what they did against Arsenal recently and Man City as well. They were unfortunate to lose that game. So they know how to play against Arsenal.

the top teams and make lives difficult and they certainly did that to start off with and then got a bigger advantage and then I thought they were worse after the red card than they had been before but yeah it's one of them isn't it I think point gained rather than two dropped I think on the face of everything but it's still frustrating because even with 10 men Liverpool could have probably won it in the end Yeah what did you think of the red card James? Do you know what it's

It's interesting because initially watching it, I thought it's a nailed on red card because he makes an absolute hash of it, doesn't he? He could deal with it with his right. He tries to deal with it with his left. His touch lets him down. I do wonder whether getting clobbered by Diop earlier on in the game played a little bit of a part in that.

because certainly he got caught so high by Diop and was down for a while that I thought, surely that's his afternoon done. And then what was it? Probably, you know, 15 minutes later, there's the red card incident. And then, I don't know, it seems to be a bit of a grey area, doesn't there, in the law in terms of he's been sent off for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity.

Yet, did he actually deny a goal-scoring opportunity because he isn't getting that loose ball? The ball actually drops to Raul Jimenez, who still has, and the game hasn't stopped. And then he has the chance and misses the chance. So, yeah, I mean, I don't think you can have too many arguments about it because...

you know there's no doubt it's a foul obviously there was a long VAR check checking for the offside but I don't know there is that that grey area there isn't it I don't know what anyone else thought it would have been interesting if the referee had initially given as a yellow as to whether it would have been overturned I mean it's it's VAR is a week-to-week thing and it you haven't got a clue what you're going to get any weekend based on the weekend before there's no sort of there is no consistency so it

it would have been interesting because of the way the play continues because if Robertson doesn't foul Wilson then he's still kind of up with play and it's not as if you know Wilson's you know going through on goal himself or anything so

Yeah, I can sort of see it, but I think it's one of them where if it's a yellow card, then it maybe stays yellow. But when it was red, it was going to stay red, which that's the way we are, seems to be working at the minute. Yeah, it's one of those where it's difficult, isn't it? Because when you see it, you're like, well, you can't complain too much about it. And then you complain too much about it. It's one of them. It could have gone either way and went against us. There's a wider thing, though.

And it's Andy Robertson's form. We referenced it earlier on. Fulham's Robinson is the... People are saying they should buy him. I've seen quite a lot of them. Defensively, he isn't the best. He's good going forwards. He tends to get caught in no man's land.

Does play well against Liverpool, but most Fulham fans I speak to don't particularly think he's the answer to some of their problems. I mean, James, it's not on the cards anyway, is it? Not currently, no, no. And I think it does do my head in a little bit, this knee-jerk reaction of Robertson makes a mistake, gets sent off.

Robinson creates two goals, sparkles a bit going forward against 10 men. And it's like, well, get rid of him, sign him. It's just one of those classic things in modern football. And I do, I saw there was even one Liverpool account

relatively large following on Facebook and Twitter that was kind of making jokes at Robertson's expense in terms of, you know, Liverpool appealing the decision to try and get it extended from one game to three. And it's just like, really? Like, you know, that is an utter, utter embarrassment. This like...

Like this kind of rush to like almost like retire someone who's arguably been certainly the best left back I've ever seen play for Liverpool. I know you've probably got a better choice to pick from, Tony, but he's had a difficult period when you think, you know, Saka obviously gave him a lot of problems in that Arsenal game, didn't he? There was the penalty against Southampton, the penalty against Real Madrid.

But there's been other games when he's been absolutely brilliant. He got the man of the match in Girona in midweek. So it does do my head in a little bit. It's almost like something like a weird sense of glee that, you know, he's finished. And it's like, he's not finished. He's not finished.

He's had a little trough that all players go through. I still think Robertson's got a lot more to offer. It was interesting, Van Dijk was asked about the red card in the mix zone afterwards and referenced his performance against Girona and how well he played. I do think that basically the problem for Robertson at the moment is he is finding himself at the scene of...

a lot of crimes. That's sort of when Liverpool concede in goals. James sort of listed them there. But equally, you look at the two of them, the Southampton one is extremely touching go as to whether that's a penalty because it's, you know, right on the edge of the box. And okay, yeah, it's still a bad challenge and a bad decision. But, you know, on another day, if it's not initially given as a penalty, is it overturned? And then we've discussed the red card. It probably is. But, you know, and he does take that big knock on the knee.

And should Fulham have been down to 10 men before all of that happens? And how would that have changed the game from the second minute? I think he's had periods in his Liverpool career where he's dipped in form, but he's always found a way. And I was a column about this probably towards the end of October, I think, where he's had these periods where he has dipped, but he always seems to come back. And I guess this is the first time

real stage where he's properly being doubted but he's showing in certain performances that he's still more than capable and you've got to remember that he's been asked to do a lot of work at the minute because of Kostas Simukas' injury that he's playing a lot of games a lot of 90 minutes and he's not really being able to be rotated so you know those games do build up and it's not been the easiest time for him but you would like to think that he'll come through it as he has done previously.

As far as I'm concerned, the only way that you can criticise Andy Robertson is if you've ruffled Messi's hair. If you've unnerved one of the greatest players of all time, then you can slag him off. I never understood, as you say, James, this glee a certain type of supporter takes in a Liverpool player.

underperforming and you know I'm hoping that Robbo will be back but moving on yeah I mean there was good performances across the pitch though wasn't it James I mean a lot of players play as well yeah I thought Gravenbert was sensational again I know it's become a common theme on the podcast this season but again you know when Liverpool were in you know a real sticky position I

He seemed to be doing the work of two or three players. He's versatile, isn't he? He's more versatile than I expected. Yeah, incredible. I mean, if someone had said to you, like, any point last season, you know, Gravenbert would be, you know, shining at centre-back and it's, you know, you wouldn't have believed it, would you? But he's, you know, physically, he looks like a different player and

And confidence wise, certainly. And as we've said before, many times, you know, such an elegant footballer as well in terms of the way that he drifts past players and ability to pick a pass and

The funny thing was, although it's dropped points for a second game in a row, I actually, after that game, it made me more convinced rather than less convinced that Liverpool can sustain a title challenge because I thought there were so many positives in the face of adversity. Fulham took points off Arsenal the week before, they beat Brighton just before that, drew with Tottenham just before that. So we said last week, this is a really difficult game.

And then you're down to 10 men for 75 minutes plus all that stoppage time. Yeah, Liverpool had more of the ball. They had more shots. They had more shots on target. And even, you know, interesting listening to some of the reaction from the Fulham camp, they said, you know, second half, it didn't feel like we had an extra man. That is testament to a few things. One of it is the resilience and the desire of that Liverpool unit to

to work so incredibly hard for each other and also massive credit to slot because he obviously changed things around a few times didn't he tactically Liverpool had a real ropey 10 minutes after Robertson's red card I was sat there thinking oh my god this could be 3 or 4 if they don't get their act together because

you know, Fulham were running at them almost at will but then Slott changed it again and that completely changed the complexion of it and in the end, you know, I think it was Fulham rather than Liverpool that were happy to hear the full-time whistle. I think Cody Gakpo has done a very good job of making sure he's not left wing back, left back again because it was in that rugby 10 minutes that he was there and

then slot out to tweak move Joe Gomez over from the right to the left but yeah I agree with James I wrote that in the briefing actually in terms of the title contenders idea I think it showed more than that and especially when Fulham went 2-1 at that point with 12 minutes to go after Liverpool had done all that work to get back in the game and then keep the pressure on

it sort of felt like it could easily have been a deflation but there was no sense of panic was there no sense of panic the opposite it was almost like Liverpool knew that they were going to make a 2-2 and slot subs where he just went right let's fling on everyone who could score a goal for us in Elliot and Jotter and basically emptied that midfield and went sort of 3-1-5 effectively it was like we're going for this and we're going to make sure it's 2-2 at the very least and it could have been could have been 3-2 by the end

Remember, this season, if you want to get in touch, give us your take on the Reds or anything else. For example, James' dietary desires, Si's pearls of wisdom. Just email walkon at theathletic.com. Right, before we get to Contract Weekly, Contract Weekly, let's touch on the wider state of the title race.

Chelsea made the five wins in a row at home to Brentford on Sunday night. They closed the gap to just two points. I don't think Chelsea are going to get anywhere near winning the title.

James? Yeah, I agree. I think as good as Chelsea are going forward, I think you can get at them. And I saw the highlights of their game against Brentford, didn't see the whole thing. Fabio Cavalio was probably about an inch away from scoring when he somehow managed to hit the underside of the bar from six yards out.

So Chelsea could easily have dropped points on Sunday night. So, I mean, what makes me laugh about Chelsea is this narrative of them being these plucky underdogs that have sprung out of nowhere and this rags to riches mentality.

story oh my you know who can they are a small club I mean I used to work for them I used to work for a small club it's I just think it's hilarious like even I I like Maresca and I think there's absolutely no doubt he has done a brilliant job there because we spent a lot of the time the last few years laughing at Chelsea in terms of some of the bonkers decisions they've made and

you know, the eight-year contracts, the stockpiling players in the same position. You think of, you know, the Graham Potter days where they couldn't even all fit in the same dressing room. And didn't we see something at the start of the season? They had like 12 goalies or something. And it was just like...

You're thinking, like, what is going on here? But the reality is, amongst all of that absolute mayhem, they have actually bought some really good players. But of course you will do if you spend one and a half billion or whatever it is they will. You are going to get pickups and decent, decent players along the way. If you buy 200 players, you might get three or four. Exactly, exactly. So I'm not having this, you know, Maresca say, oh, you know, it's, you know,

we can't even dream, you know, it's for the fans to dream, you know, we're not ready when, you know, we're not on that level. It's like, well, of course, like when you spend that amount of money, of course, you're expected to compete for the biggest prizes. And they've got some great firepower in that team. You know, Jackson is certainly a much better player now than the one I saw last season. You know, Palmer, uh,

is sensational Madoweka you know Sancho has had a bit of a revival as well and then you know with the two in midfield Fernandez and Caicedo there is an awful lot of quality there but you know both of them well they both £100 million plus footballers so it's not a massive surprise

But yeah, I still think if Chelsea prove to be Liverpool's biggest rivals for the title this season, then I still fancy Liverpool to finish off looking down on them because I think Liverpool are a better team. It all changes when he says, when Moresca says that the title challenges, doesn't it? Because that's suddenly when...

in the March, the April time, that's when the pressure begins to build. I reckon he'll be denying it even then, I reckon. It goes down to the final day. No, no chance, no chance. They've got a six-point lead with one game to go. No, no, no. If Chelsea finish second, we'll win it by 10 points. But, Andy...

Our blue friends who love us. It does us a brilliant favour. I mean, I'll bet there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Brich, which is the pub where all the Evertonians drink. The fact that they took points off Arsenal because some of them would rather go down than us win. But no, at times like this, you want to give them a hug, don't you? You want to find an Evertonian and hug them and say, thank you. Thank you.

Bit of Christmas spirit from them, wasn't it? No, he cried. Yeah, a bit of Christmas spirit. Nice little Christmas present for us. Yeah, it was a bit of... It was a surprise. It almost made the Fulham...

points feel even better because there'd been no gain from Arsenal who looked like alongside Chelsea the two main rivals this season for the title. So yeah, two big set-piece monsters going to battle. I imagine there was plenty of bruises to be nursed in the changing rooms afterwards. But yeah, it was a surprising result but then that's sort of the way Arsenal have been going at the minute. They've been relying on those set-pieces and eventually

you're going to get a game where you don't score a set piece and that's sort of the position they find themselves in at the minute where from open play they're

they're really struggling to create and you know Everton are the side that on the day can be really really difficult to beat Dyche knows how to set up a defence he really doesn't like Arsenal he enjoys taking points off them because of how frustrated their fans get so I'm sure he will have been even more delighted than most Everton fans He really dislikes Arsenal doesn't he it's brilliant

How much he dislikes us. Mind you, the way life has gone over at Goodison, he probably dislikes Everton as well. But that's a different subject, you know. Well, James, Manchester City. I mean, what's happened? I mean, they did not convince him.

In all seriousness, I am rather concerned about Pep Guardiola and his state of mind. He looks like a man who needs a break. He signed a new contract. I think he probably would have been better taking a sabbatical. But the team, the lack of conviction when they're in the lead, and then for them to... That mad last 10 minutes. It's just extraordinary, isn't it? Because you kind of...

As this run has gone on, you've almost... Common sense has told you that it'll end now because they're Man City. And you look at the players, you look at the manager, you look at the options on the bench. And it's like, well, then this will be the game that kickstarts them. And actually, when you look at the lead table...

If they'd won on Sunday, which they were obviously only a few minutes away, they'd have been level on points with Arsenal, which seems really strange, doesn't it? When you think the idea that one's been in crisis and the other one's banging a title race. Yeah.

Yeah, they're just so frail and brittle, aren't they? I think you're right. You have to feel for Guardiola. The reaction of Guardiola when Nunes gave away that penalty. You can talk about the absence of Rodri, injuries, whatever else, but no manager can legislate for that, can they? Just a horrific back pass and then that absolute brain freeze of a reaction to just absolutely... I've made a mistake. Let's compound it! LAUGHTER

Yeah, they haven't punished the initial mistake. So let me just plow into him and make sure this leads to a goal. And then, yeah, just...

And the body language, I think at 1-0, it was almost like that sense of, well, here we go again. It's everything that we've not seen from this Man City team for so long. Even just the ability to see games out and just manage games. They've completely lost that. And it's interesting. I thought I got an interview after the game I listened to on the radio, actually.

was fascinating in terms of he's obviously desperate to try and lift it off the players onto him and, you know, saying he's not good enough. It's all on him, blah, blah, blah. But it's there. There's, I mean, there's so much wrong. I mean, I had to laugh yesterday because I saw some quotes before the game from, I think Joe Hart was on Be In Sports saying, you know, Man City aren't in crisis. You know, this is ridiculous. Of course, of course they're not in crisis. It's just a small blip. And it's like,

I'd like to know what he said after the game because eight defeats in 11. I mean, it's difficult to get your head around. And I do wonder whether, I don't know, there's obviously loads and loads of different factors, but you do wonder whether the 115 charges...

that now, you know, we understand that, that kind of the hearing is now finished and we're having to wait, wait probably a month or two for some kind of judgment. I do wonder whether that's part of the psyche as well of almost like, yeah, mentally at the minute, they just look shot to bits. Some of the stuff we saw from them, I mean, they just sat deeper and deeper and deeper and you compare them. And obviously they've been a great team. I mean, the,

And they're still a great team. I'm sure they'll end the season winning something one way or another. But when you contrast the mindset of Liverpool, even though we dropped points, there was a relentlessness about them. And you compare that City just have no energy and not relentless and look scared. Yeah, it's night and day, isn't it? It's...

It feels like they're in that place that Liverpool found themselves in during COVID. Now, Liverpool had no sense at halfs and I think had a few more excuses. But just when they couldn't win their own game, couldn't win at Anfield, there's a six on the bounce that they lost and it was just...

The first setback in any game was the end of the game, essentially, for Liverpool. No matter where it was and what minute it came, as soon as they had a setback, it felt like that was it. And that's what it feels like for City at the moment. And I half wanted it to be a draw because obviously they didn't want City to win, didn't want United to win. So I was pretty happy with the penalty. But as soon as that went in, I said to my dad, this will go 2-1.

to United. I just, you just feel it because it's just the way City's going and they're in that place where they look like they're feeling sorry for themselves and they look like they're putting themselves in that zone where

One thing goes wrong, the next thing will go wrong. And bad decisions. Oh, I'll just backheel this one off the line. What's going on? Yeah, it's a complete utter brain fade across every single player. Guardiola's struggling as well in terms of just getting the selection right. And they have had the problems, they've had the injury issues, et cetera, et cetera. I think players have been playing when they're not fully fit and all that type of stuff. But...

They've put themselves in that position arguably from poor recruiting over the last few years and they've caused this problem for themselves and now they're in the rut of all ruts, if you like. So that's the way it's looking for them, but I can't say I'm too disappointed by what I'm seeing from them.

Our producer Guy has just made the point. Why didn't John Stones try and backheel the ball off the line in January 2019? It's a good question. It's a good question. And Guy, thank you. Bring the mood down. Bring the mood down. We were just elated. So now we're thinking about that. Well, it's time for Contract Weekly.

James. This was the dead air time of the podcast. This is where we sit. We all sit and we all go, we've got nothing to say. Yeah, I am sorry to disappoint you, Tony, although I am consistent in doing that. But there is no update at the minute. The wait goes on.

Well, are we going to see any business in January then? Let's move on to the transfer window. You're the man. You run the recruitments at Liverpool. I've seen it on social media. Everyone tells me that you are the man who makes the difference. Who are you going to bring in, James? Who are you going to bring in? At the minute, there's no sign of business being done in January. I think Liverpool's approach is,

will be exactly as it has been in recent Januaries, where it's kind of, you know, if an opportunity arises that they think makes sense for the long term, then they'll do it. But it's no, there's certainly, I'd be lying to you if I said that I was confident that there would be reinforcements in January. I think, you know, Slop touched upon it recently when he talked about how, in fact, quite a few of the injured players are due back

around the turn of the year, which will obviously help things. Yeah, I mean, I suppose I'd flip it round and say, what would you expect? Where would you expect Liverpool to strengthen in January? I mean, if you're asking me for my personal opinion, I would love another option in midfield. I think I do worry about how reliant Liverpool are on Gravenberg.

Of course, we know that Liverpool still admire Zubi Mendy. I'd love to see that revived, but at the minute, there's no signs of that coming to fruition. Of course, we expect City also to be in the market for a defensive midfielder in January.

And then their need is arguably much greater with obviously having lost Rodri. And then, I mean, the other one I keep seeing is people saying about the left-back situation. But you're not Liverpool aren't going to have a situation, are they, where you have three senior left-backs for the second half of the season? Yeah.

And I certainly don't see Robertson or Simba Castle even in January. So that might be a debate for next summer. I think Robertson will have one year left on his deal, won't he? And was he 30 going on 31? But I think you've got to sit tight and wait and judge it over the course of the season, not knee-jerk to Robertson getting sent off against Fulham and Robertson doing well, going against Liverpool on the weekend. So...

Yeah, at the minute, there's no signs of reinforcements. But, you know, I think as we've seen in the last few years, when you think back to what Diaz and Gagpo, both of those deals kind of came out of nowhere. Well, you know, they were ones that Liverpool had an eye on for the following summer. And then it became clear that financially it could be done. And also because other clubs were in for them, they had to move fast to bring those plans kind of ahead of schedule. Yeah.

Andy, I can see by your face there. You're sitting there and obviously you, the listener, can't see Andy's face, but I can. And Andy hasn't been on much recently. And he's like, he's sitting there going, what do you fellas do? You've got nothing to say. Not at all, because I've got even less. No, but I mean...

I don't think the squad needs too much surgery. You know, I agree with James. It'd be nice to have another midfielder. It'd be nice to have another striker. But, you know, given all things, I think the squad's pretty good. Well, Slot sort of talked about, hasn't he, that he wants two quality players for every position. And he's effectively got that when you sort of go through it. And three at left back. You can never have two at left back. Well, yeah, well, yeah, if you want. Yeah.

The only position is, you know, it's that debate around Endo, really. And obviously you can talk about your opinions on various different players, but Sloth feels like the squad that he's got, he's got the two strikers, two left wingers, two right wingers, etc. You go through the only area where you feel like they could get better is the area they tried to centre in the summer, which is that number six role, you know, Endo being Gravenberg's understudy while Endo's done well when he's been required and, you know, he'll probably play, you know, at Southampton and

He's been able to come on in games and shut things down. If he needs to start a big league game, well, you'd assume Slott will look elsewhere for that number six role. So I think when you look through the squad, that is the only real area where he doesn't have...

I feel like you're being harsh. He doesn't probably have the two quality players that he fears that he wants in that role. And that's why they looked for Zubermendi in the summer because he would have been probably that second one alongside Gravenberg. But yeah, I think James is right. I think it's one of them. If an opportunity comes, they'll look at it or take it. And if not, they'll carry on and think that what they've shown so far this season will carry them to the end of the season.

Well, there's a very busy Christmas period coming up and loads of things to discuss. But there's the possibility of reaching the first semi-final of the slot era. Southampton away, obviously, then, after that Tottenham on Sunday in the league. And these teams played each other and Tottenham beat Southampton 5-0 on Sunday.

When Tottenham are beating you 5-0, James, I mean, more than the five, because Tottenham have got plenty of good players going forwards.

But defensively, they're in a shambles at the moment with injuries and playing the high line and a high press that doesn't work very well. And sometimes it really lands a blow on them. And we've been very positive about Russell Martin, haven't we, on this show? Well, what we can say is he stuck to his principles to the bitter end, didn't he? That man was... He was not for wavering. He...

Yeah, that was an absolute shambles against Tottenham on Sunday night. And you're right, when you think of how vulnerable Tottenham have been and how easy it is to get at them, it was literally a team that had given up in terms of just how easily Spurs just sliced through them.

I was surprised Russell Martin actually made it to the end of the game. I thought they might have just sacked him after 20 minutes. Well, when he went out down the tunnel early before halftime. He missed the fifth goal, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. I bet that was an awkward conversation when he said in the team talk, you know,

you know, all right, we're four down. And then someone had to say, actually, sorry, Gaffer. It's five. It's five. Okay, well, forget it. Just get the next goal anyway. What struck me is, I thought, you know, back in the 80s when Liverpool beat Everton 3-0 at Anfield on a Sunday, I think it might have been one of the first Sunday games, the first Sunday game, televised game,

And Liverpool were 3-0 up in the first half and the cop was singing, Howard Kendall, there's a taxi at the gate. I thought to that, Russell Martin goes out early, cab for Russell, cab for Russell. You know, it's honestly, one of the things Andy and James will attest to this, when you're in the business of football journalism, you get a bit dispassionate about it, really. You see it all and you do games that,

that you don't support. Even when you do a game, you see it and you don't really, you know, you're just treated as a job. But when I see teams like Southampton and the way they defend, I mean, it makes me angry. I feel angry for Southampton fans. I'm like, stop it! Stop it! I mean, I can defend like that. I mean, I watched the LeBernie last year a little bit where

you just get so frustrated by how sort of stupid the goals he conceded are and obviously got a bit of an affinity to Burnley because I'd covered them for that was the fifth season I'd covered them but you were just sort of looking at it and going what it was so annoying watching it and to be fair because obviously Martin's done a lot of comparisons to Burnley and company I think Burnley you can at least say for company is he did tweak and he did try and change it and he did get a little bit better

where Southampton have just stayed the course and stayed the same. I can't imagine. I understood the fans getting off after 25 minutes. I would never do it myself, but I can understand it because when you've seen that so often and you just know that next week it'll be the same. There's only so much I think you can take of that type of stuff. Do we all agree that they should roll over Southampton?

It could be a new manager bounce. The no manager bounce. I think the thing is, they can't be as bad, can they? And in fact, obviously, it wasn't that long ago Liverpool went there and actually had a proper scare. Southampton haven't given many people a game this season, but they certainly asked a fair few questions of Liverpool. Although I still thought even when Liverpool were behind in that game,

there was a calmness to them, wasn't there? Almost like a belief that we will still find a way and they did. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure Slott, when he does his press conference on Tuesday, he'll be banging the drum of, you know, they're dangerous because people have completely written them off. And,

And of course, we've seen it so many times previously when a manager leaves and there is a change in the mood because there's been so much negativity around the club with the run they've been on. But when you look through that team, I mean, as much as I thought Russell Martin was so naive with his approach and his lack of flexibility, there is an absolute dearth of quality in that squad as well. I think, what, they scored 11 goals so far this season, I think, in the league and I

You know, the only team they'd beaten was Everton. So it was... I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh. Let's be honest. You know, you couldn't have... If you wanted to pick anyone you'd face in the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup, it would have been this one. And yeah, I think the biggest dilemma for slot really is getting the balance of the team right. Well, I was about to ask it. Who are we going to see? Yeah, I think that's quite tricky really because...

you know, obviously you don't want to take any, you know, unnecessary risks and,

But you want to make sure that you get the job done. And I wonder whether he might go reasonably strong to start with and then try and get it won and use his bench. Like 4-0 up after 15 minutes? I mean, that would do. That would do. I mean, I certainly don't want to see Ryan Gravenberg anywhere near that team. Definitely a night for Endo. McAllister probably needs at least half an hour, you'd say, if not more. He wouldn't have played, I think, for...

for a fortnight since that Newcastle game. Harvey Elliott, I think perfect for him to make a start. I'd bring Kwanzaa in without a shadow of a doubt. I definitely wouldn't want to see Jota start. I want to see him start and at Tottenham maybe give him half an hour. Chiesa, if you're going to get minutes under Chiesa's belt, this has got to be a game for him. Of course, Keller, you'd imagine, come back in goal and then...

Probably, I'd like to see Tyler Morton in that midfield as well because I think I felt quite sorry for him so far this season in terms of how limited his chances have been. I think on the little bit we have seen of him, he's done well. The defences really interest them because they've only got four available defenders because Robertson's suspended and you probably don't really want to be playing Van Dijk. This is probably one of those games that you'd circle as you can rest Van Dijk, whereas...

So you're going to have to be looking at potentially a youngster. I know Norris was on the bench in Girona who's a left-back. You've got Nalo as well, haven't you, I think, who was in a squad. I think it might have been Girona as well. He's been in a squad recently. So it'll be interesting to see what he does there because...

He probably would have wanted to maybe rest Trent and Robertson gets his rest in the end. So that solves that problem in a sense. But yeah, it's probably one where he would have liked to have rested Van Dijk, but he might have to, he either gambles and goes young or...

or he plays a youngster in one of the positions at the very least so that's an interesting one but yeah I agree with James it's a good chance to get minutes into other players while also being pretty strong you can see sort of a 60 minutes at Nunes 30 minutes at Jota type thing and probably the same with another forward in Chiesa maybe so

he's got plenty of options in the top half of the pitch but the defence will be an interesting one just to see how he tries to deal with it because as I say he'll probably have wanted to rest a couple of senior players but hasn't got the opportunity because of the injuries Yeah and then we move on to Tottenham White Hart Lane where we all remember last year What happened? Apparently perfectly good goals get rules out Yeah

Good process, guys. Yeah, yeah. But no, I mean, Tottenham, for all we mock them, are dangerous if you let their attacking players get space. Yeah, they are. There's no doubt about that. I mean, they've just, they've had such a crazy season so far, haven't they? When you look at

some of the performance they've put in. They've got, they're just one of those teams that's got the ability to go from one end of the spectrum to the other and then back again the following week. And I think part of that is the way that Pastor Coglu sets them up. Again, you know, similar in a way to Russell Martin, he's one of those managers who's not particularly pragmatic, you know, really high defensive line, tries to press...

high and take the initiative but when it's not quite on it they're incredibly easy to play through which is you know we saw the two sides of them epitomized in that home defeat to Chelsea didn't we where they threatened to blow Chelsea away and it was like wow this is incredible you know Tottenham and then absolutely fell to pieces and in the end

The 4-3 scoreline flattered them a bit because Chelsea were very much worthy winners. But yeah, when you see Maddison sparkling like he did on Sunday night, Son back among the goals as well. Solanke, of course, who Liverpool know well. Sorry for Solanke joining his Liverpool career because it just felt like that move just came a bit too soon for him in terms of when you look at the competition he was up against. It was

I never really remember him doing anything wrong, really. He was just raw and still learning his trade, wasn't he? And he's fair play to him. He's done brilliantly to kick on to the next level at Bournemouth and at Tottenham. Kulosevsky as well. But there's no doubt that you can get at Tottenham. They've obviously got defensive injuries themselves. We talk about Liverpool having issues back there. They've got the same. So, yeah, I think one we can safely...

safely predict that it won't be a cagey 0-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? Well, that's it. It's going to be 0-0, isn't it? I don't think Tottenham are capable of it, to be honest, genuinely. Like James said, they are just so jekyll and hard. What's interesting is they play a day after Liverpool in the Cup against United and it feels like Postacoglu needs to

win that and they've not I mean the squad is pretty short at the minute anyway they've only sort of got 13-14 senior players so there's not much rotation they can do anyway but that might work in Liverpool's advantage a little bit because he probably needs to go strong and beat United just to keep the fans on side and you feel like a trophy might be

his way of keeping his job if things continue to be as sort of up and down as they have been in the league and they don't end up in the top six or whatever. So yeah, it's going to be one. Liverpool just got to weather what you feel like will be an initial storm and then Tottenham, as he showed especially against Chelsea, they'll just keep giving you chances and they'll probably just boot you in the penalty area at some point, which they did twice to Chelsea for some unknown reason. So yeah, if it's a cagey nil though, then...

something mad must have gone on the opposite of what you would expect madness to happen in the game but yeah hopefully Liverpool will be back to winning ways in the Premier League which is really needed Well that's it for Walk On your Liverpool podcast brought to you by The Athletic Thanks to James and Andy for joining me and you for listening We'll be back next week We'll catch you then